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Man admits killing Belgian judge, clerk

A homeless suspect arrested for killing a magistrate and her clerk in a Brussels courtroom has confessed, saying he took revenge after the judge evicted him three years ago.

"According to his own statement, he was present in the tribunal, he took out a weapon and he fired on the judge and her clerk," on Thursday, Jean-Jacques Meilleur, spokesman for the Brussels public prosecutor's office, said on Friday.

"He explained that he was motivated by vengeance against the judiciary in general and this justice of the peace in particular (who) decided in 2007 to evict him from he apartment he rented", the spokesman added.

The 47-year-old man, who was known to police for acts of violence in the 1990s, was heard by an investigating magistrate, charged with the killings and remanded in custody.

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He has been of no fixed abode since being evicted.

The prosecutor's office did not give his identity, although a judiciary source said he is Iranian.

Belgian media said he had been granted political asylum in 2002.

The suspect was arrested after police were alerted to shots being fired in a Brussels park near the royal palace, the parliament and several ministries, hours after the double murder in the courtroom, the first such killings in Belgium.

"He was firing in the air, either because he wanted to be arrested or because he wanted to kill himself," said the spokesman.

When police came to the scene and asked him to put down his weapon he pointed it at them.

One of the three officers at the scene then shot in the air to distract him while a colleague subdued the gunman, hitting him with his truncheon and inflicting injuries without shooting him, the public prosecutor said.

Belgian VRT television showed footage of the suspect being pushed to the ground and shouting: "Let me die. I paid my dues, my taxes.

The investigation of the case will include a psychiatric expertise.

Police said the weapon carried by the suspect seemed to be the same that was used in the courtroom killings of the 60-year-old judge and the 59-year-old clerk.

The killings happened in cold blood in the courthouse which handles family and neighbour disputes.

Belgian Interior Minister Annemie Turtelboom thanked the police for securing "the swift arrest of the alleged culprit of the double murder", which took place 100 metres from the imposing Palace of Justice in central Brussels.

Offering her condolences to the victims' families, Turtelboom said she hoped that justice could quickly be meted out for "a crime that until Thursday was unknown in Belgian courtrooms".

Hundreds of magistrates and lawyers rallied on Thursday in the hall of courthouse, calling for stepped up security.

The killings came days ahead of the June 13 snap elections.

"We must invest more in security," said Flemish pro-independence N-VA party leader Bart De Wever, who polls say is most popular with Flemish voters.

Prime Minister Yves Leterme pledged that the tragedy would have consequences but cautioned that court cases would have to be handled without throwing up barriers.